Maine’s chief justice seeks more funding for security

PORTLAND – Maine Chief Justice Leigh Saufley plans to ask the Legislature for more money to provide security officers at courthouses around the state.

Saufley said the money would supplement the $540,000 court security bond issue that voters approved in June. That money will go primarily toward buying metal detectors for county buildings.

She told the annual convention of the Maine County Commissioners Association that courthouse security is now her chief priority.

“I know you all need money, and those beautiful county courtrooms are falling into disrepair,” Saufley said. “But my top legislative priority is going to be security.”

Saufley told officials from Maine’s 16 counties that she sympathizes with their need for more courthouse space. But with the state facing a mounting deficit, she said, security must take precedence.

“We are facing tough budget issues,” she said. “If the Appropriations Committee says what’s most important, it’s security.”

Courthouses without permanent metal detectors will soon have them, and there are plans to install X-ray machines in some of the larger courthouses, such as those in Portland, Lewiston and Bangor.

Saufley said she will ask the Legislature for funds to staff the new courthouse equipment.

“It is my hope we can get the sheriffs to help us with that work,” she said.

The state’s effort to upgrade court security began before Sept. 11, 2001, but the terrorist attacks have added a sense of urgency.

Saufley told the Legislature during her first State of the Judiciary address in February that the state’s courthouses were “flatly unsafe.”